A New Horizon for Evaluating Tire Grip Within a Laboratory Environment

Abstract

AbstractThe evaluation of tire grip on the road is costly and consumes high energy and time, but is essential for safety. Prediction of tire grip on a laboratory scale is therefore always of interest and of utmost importance for research and material developments. It mostly suffers from lack of comparison with actual tire data. To involve all influencing factors on tire grip in a laboratory scale measurement is very complex. Therefore, it has always remained challenging to obtain a strong correlation between laboratory results and road data. In the present study, a new test method is developed for a Laboratory Abrasion Tester, LAT100, which enables to exploit the device as a tribometer. The objective was to develop a technique on a laboratory device to mimic the common test modalities for evaluating tire grip on the road with a trailer tester: lateral (α) and longitudinal (κ) sweep tests. The new method is validated by correlating the laboratory data with the two test modalities of real tire grip on a dry road using a trailer tester for six different tire tread compositions. For the LAT100 tests, solid rubber wheels are characterized at three different normal loads. The effects are comparable with actual tire data. The outcome of the new test method is in good agreement with actual tire trailer α-sweep tests. Graphical abstract